


Take Notice

by dryadsbubbles



Category: Anne of Green Gables (TV 1985) & Related Fandoms, Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Accepting Feelings Kinda, Anne and Gilbert Walk Home Together So That's Nice, F/M, First Fic...Kinda Nervous, Hardcore Word Vomit, Season 3 Spoilers, Take Notice Board
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-27 22:17:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20767826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryadsbubbles/pseuds/dryadsbubbles
Summary: What if Anne and Gilbert accepted their feelings for each other because of a post on the Take Notice Board.... haha just kidding.... unless???---First fic...kinda nervous...(Season 3 Spoilers!)





	Take Notice

**Author's Note:**

> This is some hardcore word vomit so beware. I hardly even looked over it so get ready for some run on sentences.  
Basically I wanted a fic about the Take Notice Board but I was too impatient to wait for someone else to write it so I took matters into my own hands.
> 
> Good Luck.

It takes a second for Anne to realize that he’s talking to her. She was just finishing up her last set of notes on Diana’s article about the church picnic that happened last weekend. She looks up from the paper and finds Gilbert Blythe staring down at her, amused. 

“Pardon?” She asks.

“Have you not been listening for the last five minutes?” Gilbert chuckles, “Miss Stacey dismissed the rest of the Gazette writers for today, it’s time to go home.”

Anne looks around. Sure enough, everyone is gathering their books, coats, and hats and heading out the door. 

“Sorry,” she says, shuffling her papers into a pile and collecting the rest of her things. “Sometimes I just get so deep into whatever I’m thinking, that I forget to pay attention to the rest of the world.”

“I know what you mean,” Gilbert smiles, glancing at her for a second longer than he should.

Gilbert lags in the coatroom as Anne puts on her hat and they walk out of the schoolhouse together. This has naturally become their routine for the last several days. They finish up their after school duties, either for the Queen’s study group or the Avonlea Gazette and then Gilbert walks Anne home as they talk over their day. It makes sense, as they’re co-editors for the Gazette and the top two students of the Queen’s group. They usually have much to discuss after Miss Stacy dismisses them. 

Sometimes, they digress to different topics. Anne asks about baby Delphine and then smiles as Gilbert’s face lights up and he tells her about how her hand curled around his pinky finger last night as she was falling asleep and she didn’t let go until he pried his pinky from her grasp. Gilbert will inquire about Marilla and Matthew, which will send Anne on a tangent that ends with her complaining about how she scraped her hand when climbing a tree the other day. Other times, they simply walk in silence. Anne wanting to listen to the beautiful, soft sounds of the forest and Gilbert wanting to watch Anne’s face change from various emotions as she listens.

Today, they reach the Green Gables gate while their in the midst of an animated debate about the difference between the words “affect” and “effect”. Anne huffs and stomps away from him, irritated that they have yet to come to an agreement. Just as she puts her hand on the latch, she stops, takes a breath, and turns around.

“See you tomorrow?” She says, a little more hopeful than she means to be.

Gilbert’s standing a few feet behind her, his eyes twinkling like they always do when they start debating insignificant things. 

“Tomorrow.” He smiles, backing away but not turning his back on her until she turns around.

\----

The next morning comes as usual. Anne does her morning chores, has breakfast with Matthew and Marilla, collects her books and slate, and sets off for school.

Walking alone this morning, she runs along the pathway until she can make out the forms of Diana, Ruby, Tillie, Jane, and Josie. The girls, as usual, are huddled up in front of the Take Notice Board on the school house wall, checking to see if there are any new additions since the end of the day yesterday. When they see Anne approaching, they look at one another, quietly giggling. 

“Oh Aaanne,” Josie Pye coos, “It seems as though you are the focus of the board this morning.” 

Anne rolls her eyes slightly. She is no stranger to seeing her name up on the Take Notice Board. She knows that Charlie Sloane likes her and is trying to get her attention. He often posts notes such as “Anne is the smartest girl in school” or “Anne Shirley has the best nose of all the girls in school”, in an attempt to woo her into courting him. Anne, however, is not interested in Charlie Sloane in the slightest. She’s started avoiding looking at the board, hoping that if she ignores the advances long enough, Charlie will take the hint and back off. Obviously, judging by the girls’ reactions, Charlie has not yet gotten the message. 

Anne nears the girls and studies them more closely. Tillie, Jane and Josie are giggling to each other, Diana is glancing worriedly between Anne and the board, and Ruby looks as though she is about to burst into tears, although to be fair, Ruby frequently looks on the verge of tears. Anne can’t help but think it strange that they’re making such a fuss over a post that is sure to be just like the others.

When she stops and looks up at the board she realizes that she couldn’t have been more wrong. She feels her cheeks immediately start to burn. Instead of the “Charlie” that Anne expected to see, the name right next to hers is Gilbert Blythe’s. The post is innocent enough, simply stating “Gilbert has been walking Anne home from school everyday for the past week”. This isn’t a secret. They never tried to hide it from their classmates because there was nothing to hide. It is simply two co-editors, friends, enjoying each others company as they walk home after a long day of studying and work. But seeing it up on the board makes it seem so much more dramatic and so much less innocent.

“It’s not what you think,” she says quickly, whirling around to face Ruby.

“Oh but isn’t it Anne?” Ruby sobs. “You must understand what this looks like.”

“But Ruby, you’ve seen Gilbert and I walk home together before and you know it’s nothing more than us talking about school and the Avonlea Gazette.”

Anne knows this isn’t entirely true, but she doesn’t want to have to hurt Ruby even more, so she keeps it to herself.

Tears continue to stream down Ruby’s face as Anne tries again, “Ruby, you know I would never do anything to upset you. I can assure you, Gilbert doesn’t like me like that. You have to believe me.”

Ruby takes a big breath. 

“Of course I believe you Anne! I know I can get a little bit silly and dramatic when it comes to Gilbert Blythe but how can I help it? There is no one more sad and handsome than Gilbert Blythe.”

Anne smiles sadly. She knows Gilbert Blythe does not like her as anything more than a friend but she also knows that he doesn’t like Ruby like that either (something that he had assured her on one of their walks home). She knows that she ought to tell Ruby, it isn’t fair of Anne to keep something like this to herself, but she can’t bare to see a truly heartbroken Ruby. Not yet at least.

The school bell rings at that moment and the girls start to head inside. Just as she's walking away, Anne glances up at the Take Notice Board one more time. Heat rises to her cheeks once again for a reason that Anne can’t understand. It never affects her this much when something is posted about her and Charlie. Normally, she brushes it off and continues to ignore it. She knows she doesn’t like Charlie like that and so she doesn’t spend another minute thinking about the silly posts. But then why is it so different when her and Gilbert’s names are written up there together? These thoughts are swept to the back of her mind as Miss Stacey calls her name, ushering her inside the schoolhouse to begin the day. 

\----

As Miss Stacey drones on about Geometry, Anne can’t help but think back to this morning. For the sake of Marilla and growing up, she has been trying not to care as much about what other people think of her. But she doesn’t like the thought of people “taking notice” of her and Gilbert. Her walks with Gilbert are important to her (for a reason she can’t figure out) and she wants them to be something she shares with him, not the entire class. There’s only one reasonable solution that she can think of to stop these posts from continuing. She decides that her and Gilbert will have to walk home separately from now on. Or at least until the drama of the note dies down. 

\----

It seems like ages before the Queen’s study group gets dismissed. Anne is out of the classroom as fast as she can go, but Gilbert is quicker. He waits for her at the bottom of the steps but she breezes past him. She hears his footsteps catch up with her once she reaches the edge of the forest.

“Listen I know what you’re thinking,” he starts.

“If you know what I’m thinking then why are you still following me?”

“Who cares what they think, Anne?” 

“I do!” She exclaims, stopping suddenly to face him.

He is surprised by her abrupt confession. He pauses a beat before he asks,”Why?”

“I...I don’t know. I can’t figure it out and it’s frustrating! I don’t know why I can brush off all the notes that Charlie posts on that stupid board but then someone puts one single note about us on it and suddenly I get all flustered and care what people think! It makes me mad that it’s affecting me so much that it makes me want to stop walking home with you but it is and I just… can’t understand why.” She says it all in one breath. When she’s done, she’s gasping slightly and pink in the face.

Gilbert lets her take a breath and collect her thoughts for a second before he says, “Do you want to know what I know? I know that I like walking home with you. I like having intellectually stimulating conversations about what we learned today. I like debating with you over if butter or jam goes best with bread.”

“Jam,” she interjects quickly. He smiles at her, exasperated, she purses her lips and lets him continue. 

“I like telling about about Mary, Bash and Delphine and their antics at home. And I like hearing you ramble about anything and everything in Avonlea because I like hearing your opinions and I love listening to how passionate you get when talking about things as simple as bread. Walking home with you is one of the things I look forward to most everyday. I’m not going to let some stupid note stop me from spending time with you.” He finishes firmly. The twinkle in his eye is back.

Anne is taken aback. She never imagined he thought so highly of her and their time spent together. She feels her stomach fluttering and her heart beating fast. 

“Okay,” She replies.

“Okay?” He asks.

“Yeah. Okay. You’re right. I shouldn’t be caring so much about what other people think. Who cares? The only people that should have an opinion on this are you and me and I...uh....I like spending time with you too.” She says timidly.

Gilbert smiles widely and offers her his arm.

“Well in that case, shall we m’lady?”

Anne rests her hand in the nook of his elbow and smiles softly up at him.

“We shall.”

\----

The next morning Anne arrives at school and heads over to her friends at the Take Notice Board as usual. 

“Well Anne, you’re becoming quite popular on the board,” Tillie remarks slyly.

Anne looks up at the board and sees “Anne Shirley-Cuthbert is the most passionate individual I have ever met” posted in the centre. 

She smiles to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> Lol hope you enjoyed.  
Here's my tumblr: https://dryadsbubbles.tumblr.com/  
And my twitter: https://twitter.com/dryadsbubbles  
Occasionally I post things on there too.
> 
> xx,  
dyradsbubbles


End file.
